A short while ago I asked this question – Does "apt-get -s upgrade" or some other apt command have an option to list the repositories the packages will be downloaded from?, about how to list the repositories packages would be upgraded from.
I have now learned another command, apt-cache madison
which will list the repos a package will be installed from.
Why a name like madison
which is in no way related to the task at hand?
Best Answer
The
madison
command was added in apt 0.5.20. It produces output that's similar to a then-existing tool calledmadison
which was used by Debian server administrators. Several of these tools had names which were common female forenames, I don't know if there's a specific history behind that.The
madison
tool no longer exists but there's a partial reimplementation calledmadison-lite
(querying a local package archive, like the original), as well as a script calledrmadison
in devscripts which queries remote servers.apt-cache madison
is not emphasized because most of what it displays is also available throughapt-cache showpkg
andapt-cache policy
.